Media trial, public comments about pending cases affecting justice system: Justice AS Oka

Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S Oka on Saturday remarked that media trial and public comments regarding pending criminal cases affects justice delivery system as it puts pressure on the judges. .Justice Oka in this regard made an oblique reference to the statements given by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding the RG Kar rape and murder case. "We have situations where a Chief Minister makes a statement that the accused will be hanged when investigation is underway. This puts some pressure on judicial officers. This is also because of the retributive theory and whether there should be death penalty or not - the sessions judge should decide. No one else," he said..The judge was speaking at a webinar organized by the All India Lawyers' Association For Justice on "Without Fear Or Favour- Towards A Responsible And Reliable Judiciary In India".Further delving into the subject of public debate surrounding cases before courts, Justice Oka said every citizen can criticize a judgment but then such criticism should be on legal grounds."If judge goes by social media or media pressure, then what they will grant is moral conviction," he added.Justice Oka also highlighted the practice of filing complaints against judicial officers and then making them viral on social media."There are also unscrupulous complaints against judicial officers and also makes it viral on social media. My brother Justice Hrishikesh Roy in an interview said why protection is given to judges. If judges have to work without fear or favour, they need that protection. A judicial officer who enters the system is also a human being and if he faces such repeated complaints, it is bound to affect him since such complaints go viral on social media.".Justice Oka recognized the absence of adequate legal safeguards for judges serving in trial courts. "Regarding trial court and district court there are no constitutional protections which constitutional court judges have. Why is that protection given? So that judges are fiercely independent. Those judges working without fear and favour will always need support of the bar. We just cannot go by aberrations of some judicial officers," he said. .Justice Oka in his address also spoke about various issues faced by the judicial system including the delay in delivering summons and type of assistance provided by lawyers to courts."Reliability of system depends on various factors. It depends on whether judges are discharging duty without fear or favour. Other is delay in disposing cases, then is adjournment and then comes quality of justice being delivered," he said.The top court judge also flagged the issue of lawyers filing bulky pleadings and conducting lengthy cross examinations. "There is also a trend of relying on unnecessary precedents. This lengthy cross examination becomes counter productive and goes against the accused," he added.Justice Oka thus called for quality assistance by lawyers collaborative effort to ensure better quality of justice in India."When we speak in reliability of justice system, unless members of the bar act as officers of the court, quality of justice rendered by judges will not be upto the mark.".The judge also flagged the infrastructural issues faced by the district judiciary, particularly those at the town level."We talk of online courts etc..Go to taluka courts in various parts of countries, forget internet, they lack electricity. If we expect our judicial officers to render justice, we need to provide them basic infrastructure. There are not even proper washrooms for woman judges. Most of our High Courts have beautiful buildings but we ignore trial and district courts," he said.Justice Oka further talked about the reasons behind case adjournments and urged lawyers to cooperate with the courts to avoid them."At times, witnesses are not interested and then we do not have adequate witness protection. One reason why criminal cases are adjourned is because of absence of witnesses. However for adjournments, more responsibility has to be taken by the members of bar," he said."When a judge is strict about adjournments then there are protests by the bar etc. There are traditions in some places that when a senior member of bar passes away, no work happens, and with such pendency, such practices must be stopped forthwith. This is how 1000 cases are adjourned and losing one such day is nothing but a crime and still lawyers are resorting to the weapon of boycotting etc. I had issued notice to number of High Court bar associations," he added..Meanwhile, Justice Oka also commented that the Collegium system of appointing judges can be replaced only by a better institution. "No system can be perfect and no institution can be perfect. If you start talking about getting rid of it, you have to start with having an alternative institution which is better than this one," he opined.